Cornel Vena

Career

He competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics. His fencing result has become the longest standing record in the history of the modern Olympic Games. This is the best known performance in Olympic modern pentathlon fencing, winning 82.9% of his bouts, and the highest ever points score awarded in fencing in the Olympic modern pentathlon.

In 1997, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Romania retroactively awarded Cornel Vena the title of Master of Sports.

Despite being a fully qualified physiotherapist in his homeland, Cornel returned to study in Australia, presumably as his degree was not recognised. He was a school teacher in the northern suburbs of Melbourne for many years, including Watsonia Technical School (now Greensborough Secondary College) in the 1970s and Preston East Technical School (now Northlands Secondary College) which is one of the most challenging educational environments in Victoria.

In 1997, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Romania retroactively awarded Cornel Vena the title of Master of Sports. Vena has continued to coach aspiring fencers for some sixty years.

Achievements

• In 1954 he won the first Romanian Pentathlon Championship. Vena was the first Romanian national champion in 1955. He also won the National Triathlon Competition (swimming, running, shooting). In 1956, as part of the Romanian team, he competed at the Melbourne Olympics in the Pentathlon (riding, swimming, running, shooting, fencing) and won the fencing. He won 29 of 35 bouts in fencing, scoring a total of 1,111 points. He became Australian Champion in 1957, and won the team epee and foil championship in 1962, dominating modern pentathlon competition between 1971 and 1979. He became Australian Pentathlon champion in 1957, and won the team epee and foil championship in 1962, dominating modern pentathlon competition between 1971 and 1979.